Wine! It’s what’s for breakfast!

This month, for Wine Blogging Wednesday,   El Jefe, of Twisted Oak Winery and El Bloggo Torcido asked us to to tell him what wines we’d eat with breakfast.  OK, so more specifically, breakfast foods.  The difficult part was he ix-nayed the use of anything sweet or bubbly, the traditionally breakfast or brunch pairing.

My favorite drinking buddy and fellow wine blogger, Liza of the Brix Chicks (@brixchick_liza), graciously decided to host us at her house for a smorgasbord of breakfast items!  Also in attendance were Marshall (@wineq) of WineQ, Lisa de Bruin (@winedivergirl) of California Wine Life and Hahn Estates, and a friend of Liza’s.

First off, we started with a sparkling red. OK OK so we weren’t suppose to go there, but Lisa brought this Chandon Sparkling Red, which is made of Zin and Pinot, and I thought it was interesting.  It seemed a little bit like Welch’s grape juice, and also had flavors of black cherries and plums.  We paired this with the Amuse a la BrixChick, which was a date, stuffed with creme fraiche and a reduction syrup made with Hahn Meritage.

Next up, we had a silky egg custard with mushrooms.  We tried to pair this a forest floor style pinot, but ended up withe a fruitier Savannah Chanelle pinot instead.  The pairing didn’t quite work, so we kep drinking the Chandon Sparkling Red instead.

Then, we moved on to delicious savory waffles, topped with a smoked salmon ceviche style, which was truly amazing.  We paired this with the Hahn SLH Pinot Gris, and the citrus zing of the wine really complimented the salmon.  This was a huge winner in my book.  I have previously reviewed the Pinot Gris in our Hahn Twitter Taste Live, and I found tons of citrus which really balances the smoked salmon, combined with a nice round mouthfeel.

Now, we had the bacon course of course!  This was no ordinary bacon course, and Liza put together fresh baked croissants, bacon, a tomato coulis,  and greens.  We slathered fresh brie on the croissants and went to town building our bacon towers.  This was paired with El Jefe’s own The Spainard, a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano.  I really love this wine.  I mean really, really love this wine.  The smokiness of the bacon brought out the earthly goodness of The Spainard, and this was the first bottle we wrung out hoping to get a few more drops.  The Spaniard gives off a powerful aroma of smoky blackberries sprinkled with baking spices, and a whiff of your leather jacket.  It tasted like crushed blue fruit, and those same baking spices, with an earthy note to the finish.  This is a huge wine and held up well to the rich BBLT.

Next, we had Brioche French Toast with more of that amazing Meritage syrup, whipped cream and a poached pear.  We paired this with the Hahn Meritage, again reviewd at the Hahn Twitter Taste Live.   While this still isn’t my favorite wine, the pairing with the richness of the french toast and the reduction was lovely. The fruity flavor of the wine played off of the creamy brioche, and I had a very happy taste bud that day.

For dessert, we had some delicious cheeses paired with Penfolds Grandfathers Port which sealed the deal for pickling our merry crew.  I’d review it but well, I was lost in the heaven of it’s deliciosuness!

This was a fun event, and I look forward to more breakfast foods with wine!  Mushrooms in particular go quite well with earthly pinot noirs, and I”d love to pair some more syrahs with bacon.  Additionally, Bagels & Lox are calling my name with osme more lovely whites!  Wine can definately be paired, and paired well, with breakfast foods.

Happy eating, and I hope you try your own pairings soon!